Jabbar started his career as a journalist in 1972 for Daily Ganakantha until its shutdown in 1975. In 1973, he was elected as the publicity secretary of the Dhaka Union of Journalists. He got involved in the businesses of travel agency, printing and publication. He had served as the general secretary of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB).[14]
Jabbar started a venture involving computers and IT in 1987 and launched the Bijoy Bangla Keyboard and Software on 16 December 1988.[14] He has developed Bijoy Library, a library management Software which is being used by libraries of Bangladesh including British Council. He has developed a software named Bijoy Shishu Shiksha for pre-school kids. He developed Prathomik Computer Shiksha, based on textbooks published by National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB). He established schools in Bangladesh including computer-based Ananda Multimedia School and Bijoy Digital School.[12]
He is involved in writing textbooks on computer in Bangla and English.[15] Jabbar sat on several government committees on ICT affairs, including the prime minister–formed Digital Bangladesh Taskforce. He is also a member of the Bangladesh Copyright Board.[14] He was appointed as the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology of the Government of Bangladesh on 3 January 2018.[14][16]
Jabbar was a member of Mujib Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Force) in 1971 and participated in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. He was involved in the movement of freedom of the press and was actively associated with the Dhaka Union of Journalists. He was elected as the Organising Secretary of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ).[15]
Mustafa Jabbar has been praised for popularizing the use of the Bengali language in computer and other digital media.[11] A champion of Bangla Bhasha Procholon Ain, 1987,[17][18] Jabbar opines that until and unless Bengali is well-established as a language of verdict in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and as the language of research in Bangladeshi universities, Bengali language movement cannot be called finished.[18][19][20][21]
Mustafa Jabbar is also known for going after popular opensource Bengali keyboard software Avro. Later, they settled after Avro removed the alleged layout from their software. The whole affair was widely discussed in Bengali blog forums with most people supporting Avro.[22]
Jabbar's recent decisions as minister of Post and Telecommunication, such as censorship, social site monitoring and blocking of PUBG, Reddit along with popular web services like Bitly URL shortener, issuu.com, medium.com, cloud file sharing website mediafire.com, Change.org, Russian social media website VK, Imgur, Opera (web browser) and Internet Archive created a large group of critics and angered the young generation of Bangladesh.[23] His ministry also blocked a webpage containing complaints against the government's student wing- BCL without any reason.[24] As Minister he made it mandatory for all phones manufactured and imported in Bangladesh must have his software, Bijoy app, preinstalled.[25]
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